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Overview

Minnesota is well known as a land of entrepreneurs including 3M, Target, and direct sellers like Tastefully Simple and Creative Memories. Today there is no shortage of the entrepreneurial spirit as business filings in Minnesota continue to grow despite the recession (more than 56,000 new businesses in 2012Ridgewater College, a comprehensive community and technical college with campuses in Willmar and Hutchinson, Minnesota has been providing higher education in west central Minnesota for over 50 years. On June 7, 2013, Ridgewater College is partnering with Dakota County Technical College, Minnesota State Community and Technical College (four campuses in western Minnesota), St. Paul College, and MnWest Community and Technical College (five campuses in SW Minnesota) ) to host an NACCE Entrepreneurship Summit that will not only elevate attention to the extraordinary education already being provided but will begin to build the capacity and create the connections to serve the next generation of Minnesota entrepreneurs.

The purpose of the summit will be to bring together the staff and faculty and leadership of community colleges interested in advancing entrepreneurship in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (24 two-year colleges/7 universities) with regional entrepreneurs to build and create the connections necessary to strengthen and improve entrepreneurship opportunities for students across Minnesota. The deliberate involvement of regional economic development officials and members of the Southwest Initiative Foundation will bring additional resources and skills to the table to advance an interdisciplinary approach to education designed to teach students to think entrepreneurially.